Hades: An Olympian Feat of Remaking Greek Mythology

Hades:

Hades: An Olympian Feat of Remaking Greek Mythology

Hades: The Capricious Will of the Gods

Hades: Relationships are Divinely Depicted

Hades: Inside the Administrative Chamber's Permanent Record

Time Played: 81 Hours to reach the final, final ending.

Attempts: 90

Escapes: 35

There was no better received game in 2020 than Supergiant Games' Hades. This wasn't surprising. Over the past decade, no company has released such acclaim worthy titles. From their groundbreaking debut of Bastion in 2012, they've never stumbled. Their track record already has me excited for their 2024/2025 release (they are remarkably consistent on the three year release cycle).

Hades demonstrates the classic themes and strengths of Supergiant Games' collection. Even though Bastion is the weakest sampling of the catalog, it established their motifs and tropes. The key gameplay mechanic is interchangeable abilities, items, and upgrades. In Hades these are Boons from the gods, the Infernal Arms, Keepsakes, and Daedalus' Hammer. The player upgrades their hero to fight a mob of faceless enemies: the hordes of the underworld. The developer's strengths are evident in their musical design (featuring Ashley Barrett), unique hand-drawn artwork, and point perfect dialogue, which is always slightly diminished by the formlessness of the broader plot. The protagonist suffers loss, and contends with inevitable forces, often cyclical in nature. I can't unilaterally claim that Hades, of all the Supergiant games, deserves the olive wreath. In 2015, a year before I started Awkward Mixture, Transistor drew me in as if I was an electrical current. But time diminishes memory, making exact comparisons impossible.

Hades employs Greek Mythology for its foundation. Alpha! But hasn't this pit been delved deep enough, excavated, and exhausted? Supergiant reinvigorates the setting by paradoxically refreshing the characters, yet not altering any stories. They stick within the parameters of the classics, but their success comes from characterization. The developers capture the essence of the characters from a different perspective. They do this through visual representation, dialogue, and Boons. The characters are playful, yet solemn, eccentric, yet grounded, and dedicated to their situation, or to finding their way out of it. The developer's falter in their acceptance of the Underworld as is. Hades makes a minor effort to condemn the injustice of Hades' realm, but these excuse the larger situation. The protagonist rights the wrongs of some condemned, like Sisyphus. The writing disparages the classical hero archetype, mocking the Elysium heroes and their wars: Theseus is the target. But the greater injustices remain at the end. Though loss is a common theme, the gods, and their employees, only suffer temporarily, while the mass of dead endure tribulation eternally. Hades replaces the unjust justice of Greek Mythology with a new justice: whatever the protagonist believes. The plot revolves around one of the more brutal elements of Greek Mythology; the rape of women by men. Persephone's rape by Hades is the only aspect of the classics which suffers a minor rewrite, correctly so in this case, otherwise the story wouldn't satisfy, and yet the explanation merely metamorphose rape into, sort of rape.

The protagonist is Zagreus, a real, fake Greek god, which a limited number of historical sources claim to have been the son of Zeus and Persephone, the husband of Gaia, another name for Hades, a proto-Dionysus, or the son of Hades and Persephone. In Hades, he is the last. The game begins with flame-footed Zagreus initiating his plan of escape. With the help of some chthonic entities, and against his father's wishes, Z tries to leave the underworld to find his mother. Persephone abandoned the Underworld shortly after Zag was born, and he burns to discover the reason for her flight (though he sympathizes since he wants to flee his father's heavy handed and frigid oversight). Zag's quest is that of a stubborn adolescent seeking something even as older minds warn him against the dangers of forbidden knowledge, of the penalty for finding what you seek. If he wasn't so well voiced by Darren Korb, and written by Greg Kasavin, he would sound selfishly absorbed, insufferably whiny, and heedless on his quest. Instead he's laid back, too cool to care, poised, but also indignant. He empathizes with the suffering of others and interacts well, even with those who seek to thwart his plan.

Along the way he interacts with a who's who of Greek mythology. Zeus, Posiden, Dionysus, Ares, Aphorodite, Athena, Artemis, Hermes, and Demeter offer Boons in the hopes of bringing Zag out of the underworld to join them on Mount Olympus. Or why are they really helping him? To spite Hades? In Hades, the gods of Olympus don't know what became of Persephone. One day she disappeared. Bereaved, Demeter plunged the world into eternal winter. One or two of the gods appear to know Persephone's situation and location, but won't divulge the information. Perhaps they hope Zagreus will find her, and end the permanent frost. Though the Olympian's are accompanied by a classic cast of humans and underworld employees, missing are other major gods, such as Apollo, Hera, and Hephaestus.

The characterization and plot details are aided by a nameless Narrator, who speaks occasionally to inform the player of details. Strangely, Zagreus hears this man, and responds wittily. Though there is speculation about the Narrator's identity, it seems Supergiant intended him to remain anonymous. Achilles, the hero of the Acheans, helps Zagreus understand his surroundings. His Codex collects details on the Chthonic Gods, Olympians, Underworld, Infernal Arms, Perilous Foes, Artifacts, River Denizens (fish), Others of Note, and Fables. These notes are from Achilles' unique perspective, so the solitary, melancholy shade Zagreus discovers in Elysium is labeled ???, with “It is not my place to say much of him, now. May his name yet live!” which is a much different description than Z would give the brusque stranger.

To find his mother, Zagerus disobeys his father and enters the mazes of Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx. Each of these areas is randomly generated, a dungeon with branching choices. Each room sees Z fight a collection of enemies (sometimes in waves). After they crumble to ash, he advances. Each room includes one to three exits. Each exit displays the reward for beating the next room. But the underworld isn't actually a labyrinth (though there is a Minotaur). Zagreus can't backtrack, and all choices lead equally to the exit. The victory of a room rewards the player with permanent or temporary benefits. Permanent benefits remain with the player even after their escape attempt fails, and Zag returns to the hall of Hades. Temporary benefits last only for this particular escape attempt, vanishing on death. Keys, Darkness, Nectar, Gemstones, Titan's Blood, Diamonds, and Ambrosia are permanent, while Boons, Pomegranates, Daedalus Hammers, Health increases, and Obal are discarded on death. A late game ability allows the player to reroll the rewards for a room, with a chance for something better, but this is a deception. The result isn't random, but predetermined. Health Increases almost always becomes Obal, while Darkness transforms into Gemstones.

Each of the four regions of the underworld features a distinct artistic design, with unique mechanics, setting it apart from the others areas. The third location, Elysium, includes warriors who respawn after death, making it the most exhaustingly challenging area. In each location Zagreus can visit Charon's shop twice, to buy Boons, health, or Pomegranates. Each region also allows for the interaction with one suffering soul. These visits should always be chosen over other options, they both advance the story, and offer the best benefits. Sometimes the player won't see the door to one of these unjustly punished shades, an injustice in itself. Other rooms contain fountains with enemies, to heal the player, or a Chaos gate which transports Zag to Chaos Her/Himself. Chaos offers Boons with a cost, the player suffers some sort of penalty for the next two to four rooms; can't attack, reduced health, bonus damage from traps. Afterwards Zag gains a strong buff. Every region includes a choice of mini-bosses, and ends with a boss battle.

If Zagreus loses all his health, he expends Death Defiances, and if he doesn't have any remaining, death carries him gently back to Hades' lobby. Hypnos greets Zag with a relevant comment, relating to his death, like puzzlement if he was killed by REDACTED (the final boss), or hilarity if the foe was a Wretched Lout. If the player wants to quit along the way, the game saves at the end of every room, making the process simple.

Next week, part beta of Hades.

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